July 14th...My very first encounter with Derrick was the day after I reported to Ft. Polk, LA. We were being split up into sections by our jobs, and the 92A's (that would be me) were lumped in with the mechanics. We were standing in their formation with them, and I was paying zero attention to the orders being given. All I could concentrate on was how tall the guy next to me was. It's a weird feeling standing next to someone, your head barely above their shoulder, and having no idea what their face looks like. He could have been completely headless for all I knew. That happens a lot in the army. A few minutes later, marching up to the location of the hospital we were about to build, he was in front of me. He did have a head after all, but now all I could see was the back of it. I had yet to see his face, but somewhere in the back of my mind I kept thinking to myself, "I think I am going to marry him..."
I don't know how I knew, maybe it's just intuition, but it doesn't really matter how though, because I was right! We met face to face for the first time during some crazy unexplained absence from everyone else in our group, we were the only two who showed up for work, so we just sat down and got to talking. And we talked. And we talked. And we talked. Even after the two weeks were over and we both headed home, we kept on talking!
I knew from those first moments when I could only see his hair, a good foot or so above my own, that I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.
Derrick, you are the most caring, sincere person I have ever met and even though we are millions of miles apart right now, we are still together. I don't feel like there has ever been a day when you weren't here with me, physically or not. I love you more than you can possibly imagine and I cannot wait to see you again.
Three years and counting!
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